Truths and Consequences
Who: Baron Byron Balaz and Alba DeTamble
What: Time for The Talk....no not that one.
When: Sunday, October 3rd 2010
Where: The Baron/DeTamble Residence
Rating: A for Awkward
Status: Closed/Incomplete
( Not quite how he wanted to spend the evening.... )
What: Time for The Talk....no not that one.
When: Sunday, October 3rd 2010
Where: The Baron/DeTamble Residence
Rating: A for Awkward
Status: Closed/Incomplete
( Not quite how he wanted to spend the evening.... )
"Yes, it was. In my time The Nobility...vampires...have managed to create synthetic plasma in order to subsitute for the blood of living beings. For a long time, we ruled the world you see. And while...some Nobility were not nearly as kind to their human charges as others, a number of us believed that humans genuinely needed to be protected--we abhored the practice of drinking living blood--and a replacement was created."
Although Byron spoke as though all of this was recent history, the truth was the Golden Age was centuries before his time. He only remembered it because it was what The Noble Ancestor had taught him.
"I was born this way, as were my mother and father. Vampires in my world, although our phisiology is radically different from humans in many respects, we are born, age, and do, eventually die of old age--it just takes a very, very long time. I'm only about eighty years old, currently." Not that he looked a day over thirty, and that wouldn't change for a very long time.
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From everything she'd read and seen, vampires weren't born and bred. They were made in a much more violent way. "So you're like. A different um..." Alba grappled for the word. The difference between dogs and cats, people and monkeys. "A different species?" Alba frowned, thinking about this. "Are all vampires like you or are there different vampires like there are people who are Chrono-Impaired and people who aren't? Are there vampires who are made like in books and stuff?"
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"The Nobility had its time...we waged wars and forged peace, built great centers of learning...a whole civilization flourished under the moonlight for centuries. But in time, many of the ruling Nobles split along idealogical lines. Some advocated peace and strove to protect their human charges, even came to love and adore them to the point of seeking ways of having children with them. Others...like my father's family...became tyrants, cruel and cold, feared by all who were unlucky enough to fall under their stewardship." A hard edge came into Byron's voice as he spoke.
"By the time I was born, it was clear that if the Nobility were to survive, we had to coexist with humanity...who, as was their right...had started to rebel against all Nobility whether kind or cruel. They began to slaughter my kind enmasse and, due to various circumstances, I effectively decided to side with the humans against my father for control of the kingdom." Alba didn't need to know about the strange experiments The Noble Ancestor had done to him yet, not why Byron still barely understood them himself. "It was my hope, that if I could wrest control of the kingdom from my father then the people would no longer have to live in fear. Unfortunately, Father was prepared for me and...trapped me here when I went to the castle to face him."
He shook his head. As a Noble he knew his responsible still rested in his own time, trying to help his own people and create a better world.
"There is as much diversity between vampires as there are humans, yes." He said, finally getting around to answering Alba's questions. "Some are even Chrono-Impaired. And yes, it is unfortunately still a common occurrence for Nobles to feed on and turn humans to become one of their kind. It isn't a practice I exactly endorse, but it happens." Part of Byron was still amazed at Alba's innocent curiosity, and how it seemed to over-ride any fears she might have.
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She listened to the story, taking it all in, like a novel she'd read. When he said that his father had stuck him here, her jaw dropped. "Your dad kept you here? He was really that evil?" Because evil was the only word that came to Alba's mind based on Mr. Baron's description of his father. A father that didn't seem to love you.
"But you don't eat people? Like. You don't want to eat me or anything, right?" Alba didn't really think he did, but it was a question to ask just in case. "There are Chrono-Impaired Vampires?" Her eyes lit up with curiosity. She was sure Dr. K would love to hear about that.
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"Evil barely describes my father. His crimes are nothing an innocent like you should ever be aware of." He shook his head, moving to take a bite of bread, fully aware that he didn't need to keep up the impression now, but wanting to. That, and until many Nobles who spent their time passing as human, Byron had come to genuinely enjoy food. He actually laughed when Alba asked if he would eat her.
"Absolutely not. And yes, there are. Some even made themselves that way on purpose in order to foil the Hunters and humans trying to kill them...others, like you, were just born that way. That, and genetic experimentation is why so much is known about the Chrono-Impaired in my era." It was a lot to explain, but Byron sat and answered each one of Alba's question dutifully. It was the least he could do to repay the fact that she was apparently unafraid.
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She frowned. "I'm not that innocent." Alba was insistent upon being treated like an adult in all circumstances, and that included this, though she had a feeling that Mr. Baron was not going to budge on that point.
"Good. I'd be too sad if you wanted to eat me." She grinned at him widely and took a bite of the bread, thinking. "So what can hurt vampires? Sun and stakes and stuff? But can garlic or holy water or whatever?"
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"It's part of the burdern of being half human. He...sides much more often with the human part of himself than the Noble. I cannot expect you to really understand the world D and I come from, Alba, The Nobility had been controlling humans for thousands of years and whatever D's conditions were as he grew up, they prepared him for a life as a Hunter. Half vampires are such a rarity and so despised they live on the edges of both human and Noble society. As for what the D stands for...there are a million theories about that. Some say he took it in honor of The Noble Ancestor. The greatest Noble to ever live."
Pouring two glasses of warm cider for a carafe on the tray, The Baron placed one near Alba's dish and sighed gently, a soft smile playing across his bright red lips.
"Compared to the children of The Frontier, you most certainly are my little traveler." He said, using the term of affection for the first time since they met. "If there was a way I could prove the point without compromising that innocence I would."
Oh sweet, ancestors, the girl had hit every nail on the head. She would have been a Hunter in another life.
"Everything you named, although Holy Water is rather rare outside of The Capitol, running water, silver, garlic or any of it's extracts...the reality of it is the reason Nobles are still so common on The Frontier is that out there, it is harder to kill us than near populated areas. Many of the old family like mine have fortifications that have stood for generations. That, and mother always used to say country weather suited our kind much better."
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"Silver, too? That's not just werewolves? Wait. Are there werewolves, too?" Alba's eyes widened. The thought of werewolves was a bit terrifying to Alba. But similar to her in a way. No control over changing the way she didn't have much control over moving. "Running water? So you can't go over bridges and stuff?" He mentioned his mother and Alba raised an eyebrow. "What was your mom like? Nicer than your dad?" She certainly hoped so!
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"There are two major areas in my world, The Capitol, which is all that remains of what was once a vast Vampire city that has since fallen into human hands, and anywhere beyond that is The Frontier." Pondering a moment, Byron moved a few things on the silver serving tray large enough to draw on and scraped the bottom of his soup bowl with his spoon, tracing a circle and then a formless mass within the circle. "The Capitol is roughly here." He put a dot with his spoon in the far north west of the mass. "And from there, The Frontier is divided into a number of Control Zones, each with a lord and a council who reports to them. Some regions vampires haven't controlled for centuries, like the regions closest to The Capitol. The further out into The Frontier you get, however, the stronger Nobility control is. The region I grew up in was in an area that has been under Nobility control for severally hundred thousand years." Another small mass was traced within the first one that extended from the southern tip of the continent to roughly the middle.
"My journey took me all the way from the edge of The Capitol's influence all the way to the center of my father's domain, some 250 miles inland. It was an, interesting journey. We even managed to ford a river with D's help."
A flooding river, at that.
"--And werewolves as you imagine them are very rare, but there are genetically engineered shape shifters with weaknesses to silver. The many wars of The Nobility gave rise to a number of creatures and species that have since forsaken their masters and created lives for themselves on The Frontier." Described to someone who had never seen it themselves it must seem like a terribly alien world.
Taken aback by the blunt earnestness of her last question, Byron paused. He had tried not to think about his mother and her terrible fate, but the truth of the matter was that he loved her and missed her dearly.
"My mother...is the most gentle, kind, protective woman to ever live. She was always my first and greatest champion. She did everything from over-seeing my education to making sure I was never lonely...though I suppose that isn't exactly an extraordinary feat for most mothers." As a child, it had certainly felt that way. "She probably would have adored you, given the chance. After I as born she wasn't able to have any other children. Though there were a number of servants to keep both of us company." As terrifying as it had been living with Lord Balaz, he and his mother had gotten by, and buried deep, there were even memories that bordered fond and happy.
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"What's outside the circle?" Unless the circle was supposed to be a sphere. And then he mentioned werewolves. Wow. That was just a little crazy. "Werewolves and shapeshifters. Wow. It sounds very..." Alba wasn't sure what the right word was. Terrifying? Amazing. "Very different."
Alba nodded. "Did she love your dad? Cause she sounds awesome and your dad doesn't sound nearly as awesome as she was." After a moment, she added, "I miss my mom, too."
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"Very different," he emphasized, pausing only a beat later, struck again by the raw honesty with which Alba spoke. A weight settled on The Baron's heart just then, a resolve to do everything in his power to protect the child sitting across from him. Protect her and, as melancholy a thought it was--get her home safe.
Unable to quite help himself, Byron touched the side of her face with a pale, chilly hand and smiled serenely. "I...know you do." He said softly, letting his hand drift back to his drink. "She was a dutiful wife, for as much as it was worth. Perhaps once she loved my father but never as long as I lived at home did I ever see a hint of it." A slightly strained silence stretched over the table and Byron seemed to shake himself out of a stupor.
"Holidays were passable though, especially Hallow's Eve. Although I assure you that it was a far...grander holiday than it seems to here. I..." something entered Byron throat suddenly and he coughed, "didn't exactly do my research properly, so I got you something that would be a little more suitable to my era."
Reaching to the side of the chair, Byron handed Alba another elaborately wrapped garment box. "Of course, if you prefer something a little more...impish, it can be arranged."
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Alba raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Baron, you really shouldn't have, you've done so much already..." she started, taking the box and opening it. "Oh my god, it's beautiful. Am I going to be like. A princess for Halloween?"
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"Although it doesn't seem like there will be a ball to wear to, as there would be in my time, it is an option at least." Digging into a pocket, he held out a silver necklace which held in a delicate casing a deep blue gem-- the one keepsake of his mothers that he took when he left home. "I think you would look beautiful in it." And he smiled broadly, ultramarine eyes glittering-- "Beautiful enough to be a vampire princess." In his other hand, were a silly set of fake pointed teeth. Perhaps a bad joke on his part, but if Alba had been this good about everything so far. "Where people of this era get off thinking vampires only wear black I'll never understand..."
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"As long as these are intact, it can never be lost or broken. The metal is in a state of constant molecular regeneration.. it cannot rust or break, and even if it does fall off, it will be instantly teleported back to my coffin. Call it the most advanced anti-theft device in the world." With a sweet sort of chuckle Byron slid the small panel closed where it shut so seamlessly there didn't appear to be any way to open it at all. Leaning across the table he latched it around Alba's small, slender neck to hang just between her collarbones. "It would be my honor if you wore it, Alba." If nothing else impressed on her that The Baron had begun look upon her as at least a temporary daughter, it would be the way he looked at her as the blue gem caught the gleam of her eyes and seemed to burn with a cool fire deep within. What he didn't say was that the gem was also a ward, and would keep her safe from any harm that could come to her as night drew on.
"If you're finished eating you can wash up and try everything on, if you like."
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She saw the look he gave her, one that was reminiscent of how her mom or dad would look at her when they didn't think she was looking. Wow. She didn't realize that she'd made that much of an impression on Mr. Baron so quickly. She turned slightly red as she put a hand to the necklace. It really was breathtaking. "Thank you, Mr. Baron," she said and then nodded. Trying things on and washing up was a perfect idea.
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